Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW), centre of excellence for Airbus freighter conversions and Aircraft Maintenance, and Sichuan Haite Hi-Tech (Haite), a publicly listed MRO solutions provider for aircraft in China, have announced the signing of a letter of intent (LOI) for a collaboration on Airbus Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversions.

Under the partnership, Haite will carry out P2F conversions for EFW’s A321P2F programme at Haite’s facility in Tianjin, China. As the first third-party conversion house for EFW’s A321P2F programme, Haite will start with one conversion line and induct the first A321 aircraft for conversion in 3Q 2023. This will bring the global conversion sites EFW has for its A321P2F programme to a total number of four, namely in San Antonio, U.S.; Singapore; and Guangzhou and Tianjin, China.

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“We are pleased to gain a renowned partner in China through our latest collaboration with Haite, which is well experienced in freighter conversions,” Jordi Boto, CEO of EFW, said. “This new partnership will greatly support our strategy to expand the global network for our narrowbody P2F programme. It will also further strengthen our presence in China, which is one of the largest and fastest growing aviation markets in the world.”

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“We are much honored to have EFW’s confidence in Haite through our collaboration as EFW’s first third-party conversion site for the A321P2F programme,” Wan Tao, Chairman of Haite Hi-Tech, said.  “This is an exciting milestone for us to work on the preferred conversion solution, and I look forward to strengthening our mutually beneficial partnership in the long run.”

EFW’s family of Airbus P2F programmes – A320P2F, A321P2F and A330P2F – are developed in collaboration with ST Engineering and Airbus, with EFW holding the Supplemental Type Certificate and leading in the overall programmes as well as marketing and sales efforts. To meet the high demand for freighter conversions, ST Engineering and EFW have set up conversion sites in China and the U.S. and are working with third-party conversion houses to complement the well-established Airbus P2F conversion facilities in Germany and Singapore.

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